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Sometimes you just want a hot dog. That’s why we drove a GoPro mounted to a shopping cart around the Disrupt Europe Hackathon where we saw some of the happiest hackers in the world enjoying fine tubesteak and donuts. Why did we film this? Because we could. Keep up with Disrupt Europe on our event page and our new social hub. Continue reading
It’s that time of week for a new episode of CrunchWeek, the show that brings three writers, three TechCrunch TV cameras, and a whole lot of opinions together to dish on the most interesting stories from the past seven days in tech news. Continue reading
If you’re a user of social media scheduling app Buffer, there’s a good chance that your Saturday morning has been less than relaxing. There have been numerous reports circulating today purporting that the service has been hacked, and just a few moments ago the company officially confirmed those reports in a tweet.
“Hi all. So sorry, it looks like we’ve been compromised,” the terse statement reads. “Temporarily pausing all posts as we investigate. We’ll update ASAP.”
The Disrupt Europe Hackathon is underway, but just because you can’t make it out to Berlin for the festivities, it doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the experience. That said, we’re bringing you as close as possible to the sights, sounds, and (unfortunate) smells of the 24-hour coding competition with this video. We’re seeing starts from near and far, experienced and brand new to the scene compete. More than $5,000 is on the line, as hackers will present their products on stage tomorrow at noon to a panel of amazing, expert judges. Plus, our incredible API sponsors like Weather Underground and Yammer are giving away some amazing prizes for the best use of their API. Continue reading
Guten Tag, and welcome to a very special (Saturday) edition of the TechCrunch Gadgets Podcast.
This week, Apple unveiled the iPad Air, the thinnest, lightest, and most powerful iPad yet. But is it an upgrade worth your cash? Is it light enough to truly become a one-handed device, as MG Siegler suggests? Continue reading
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, Dan Farber, Keith Teare, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — recorded a Tuesday evening session in the wake of Apple’s iPad refresh announcements. Tim Cook cemented control of the company by open-pricing apps and OS for the price of the hardware. In so doing, Apple did what Google has been doing for years: free upgrades to enhance the network effects of the platform.
The hardware continues to attract not only the core faithful but a growing number of tire kickers for enhanced collaborative services. The freed-up iWork apps may seem like an attack on Office, but the easier target is Google Apps. Google is forced to counter by playing ball with iPhone users to retain cross platform share for Google Now, and the big prize of push notification keeps opening up a lead in aggregate with Microsoft fading fast. Continue reading
Hackathons can sometimes turn into a sea of laptops and monitors, so perhaps it’s no surprise that as I wandered the Disrupt Europe Hackathon today, I found myself drawn to a table covered with wiring and gadgets, including a Geiger counter.
The idea was pretty unusual, too — as the four-person team explained it to me, they’re trying to build a system for collecting and displaying crowdsourced radiation data.
Philip Wagner (the team member actually working with the Geiger counter) explained that in situations like the Fukushima nuclear disaster, you might not trust the company involved to give you accurate warnings about the radiation danger. So a participant in the Open Radioactivity Warning System would receive their own Geiger counter which collects and shares live data online. Continue reading
Corey Thuen was a developer at the Idaho National Laboratory who helped to develop a network-visualization tool called Sophia. Then Battelle Energy, the company that manages the INL, rejected the notion of open-sourcing Sophia, and instead licensed it for commercial use to a company called NexDefense.
So Thuen went created a separate-but-similar open-source tool called Visdom, written in entirely different languages. (He stresses: “Visdom is not a translation of Sophia from C to the languages in which Visdom is written. We did not have the Sophia code when we created Visdom.“) And what happened? That’s right: Battelle sued him.
The United States National Laboratory Of Water Drinking And Health (not a real laboratory) recommends that all humans drink lots of water all the time. That’s why H2O-Pal exists – it’s a water bottle that tells you how much you’ve drunk and, more important, when you’ve reached the daily goal of two to five gallons (warning: you could probably drink less) needed to stay alive.


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The Stationers’ Company announces it has shortlisted 20 entries from the 49 submitted for this year’s Innovation Excellence Awards, which saw a 50% increase in the number of entries this year. To view the press release please click here.
Join the celebration of the industries’ innovation, creativity and excellence at the Awards luncheon at Stationers’ Hall, London, on 27 June, where winners will be announced. All shortlisted companies are also invited to exhibit their products and services at the accompanying exhibition. To book tickets, please click here.

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SHENZHEN, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Huawei had a total of 87,805 patents worldwide, including 11,152 granted by the U.S. authorities, by the end of 2018 after spending 10-15 percent of its revenue on research and development (R&D) annually, the tech giant said Thursday.
At a press conference, the Shenzhen-based company said in the development of the 5G network alone, Huawei had invested over 2 billion U.S. dollars by the end of 2018, "more than the total 5G investment from all major equipment vendors in the United States and Europe."
Huawei also paid over 6 billion dollars in royalties to implement other companies' IP in the past 30 years, nearly 80 percent of which went to U.S. firms, said Song Liuping, the company's chief legal officer.
Song maintained that respect and protection of intellectual property were its core principles and the cornerstones of its business success while calling against politicizing IP disputes.
"In the past 30 years, no court has ever concluded that Huawei engaged in malicious IP theft," Song said. "No company can become a global leader by stealing from others."
While admitting that Huawei has been on both sides of IP disputes, which are "common in the international business," Song called for resolving such issues through legal proceedings.
Huawei has become a world-leading tech company because of its long-term and massive investment in R&D, according to Song. In 2018, the company invested 15 billion dollars in R&D, ranking the fifth largest in the world.
"Huawei has more than 80,000 R&D engineers who put their hearts and souls into the technology we create," Song told the conference.
Song said Huawei fully supported the IPR protection system, adding that Huawei would not weaponize intellectual property. "Huawei's intellectual property policy is defensive rather than aggressive," he said.
Huawei's patent portfolio includes many essential patents for 4G and 5G technology. As the major owner of the core 4G and 5G patents, the company is ready and willing to share its technology with the world, Song said.
As a major patentee in many international organizations, Huawei charges royalties and fulfils obligations. But Huawei is still a product-oriented company, not a patent-based company, Song said.
Since 2015, Huawei has received over 1.4 billion U.S. dollars in licensing revenue. Every year, Huawei submits more than 6,000 contributions to international standards organizations to help drive the industry forward, Song added.
Huawei is a major technical contributor to the field of Information and Communication Technology. All participants in the industry will research, develop, and manufacture their own products in accordance with international standards. Huawei is one of the major contributors to standards, and companies that use standards in the industry are sharing Huawei's technology, which brings value to them, according to Song.


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T-Mobile agrees to pay at least $90 million for allowing unauthorized charges to be placed and to remain on customer’s bills – a practice known as cramming. The services including things like horoscopes or celebrity gossip and ran up to $9.99 monthly. The charges, of which T-Mobile kept anywhere from 35% to 40%, often remained on the bill even after customers complained. Chief of the FCC Enforcement Bureau Travis LeBlanc:
T-Mobile was in bed with the crammers. Crammers are predators; they’re a threat to consumers everywhere. The FTC has received many thousands of complaints about cramming.


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The Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has officially announced the Q1 2023 revenue. According to the latest information, Huawei generated 132.1 billion yuan (US$20 billion) in sales for the first quarter, a marginal rise of 0.8 per cent from the 131 billion yuan in the same period last year.
Overall business results were in line with forecast. Huawei has yet again increased investment in R&D to keep innovating for the future, create new value for its customers, partners, and the communities worldwide, and promote quality development.
Huawei has stepped up development of domestic replacements for electronic components, an effort which began a decade ago, long before it was sanctioned by the US, according to Eric Xu, a rotating chairman, at last month’s conference.
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The Lash Lounge has hired a new chief executive officer as it prepares for expansion.
The business, headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., has hired Dave Keil as president and ceo. At the same time, Keil has been appointed operating partner at private equity firm Franworth, which backs The Lash Lounge, as well as Title Boxing Club, City Row, Spavia and Sweetwaters Coffee & Tea.
The Lash Lounge provides eyelash extension services, as well as brow extensions, tinting and threading and permanent makeup. A full set of lash extensions cost $200.
Before The Lash Lounge, Keil was ceo at Pure Barre, an L Catterton-backed exercise franchise. Prior to that, he was ceo at HoneyBaked Ham. Keil also held multiple roles at Ecolab Inc., as well as General Mills.
“The Lash Lounge is embracing the value of a boutique system‚ capturing the demand for specialization, focused expertise and development of a community with local ownership,” Keil said in a statement. “The Lash Lounge combines a proprietary technique and world-class service in a luxurious setting, tailored to each guest’s unique eye structure. Eye treatments have been around for millennia, as eyes are the first thing we notice about one another, and The Lash Lounge is positioned as the market leader in this emerging space.”
Founder Anna Phillips will be chief innovation officer, focusing on developing innovative products and services in the lash category. She will continue to develop the company’s stylist training programs.
The Lash Lounge is not the only expanding lash extension studio. In November, Amazing Lash Studio, which had 160 locations at the time, said it was exploring sale options and that it had 300 franchises set up.
The Lash Lounge has plans to open more than 300 more locations, with more than 100 of those opening in the next year.


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With the NAB show in Las Vegas cancelled due to Covid-19, Atomos is bringing its legendary ATOMOS ATOMOS ATOMOS NAB 2020 prize draw to you online. The online prize draw has been launched in conjunction with our newly announced two-week Atomos Academy which offers free webinars and classes from leading cinematographers, creators and educators, as well as news and demonstrations of all the latest Atomos gear.
The daily prize draws started on 21st April and ends on 2nd May 2020. Entrants have the chance to win top prizes that they could have won on the show floor, including the Ninja V, Shogun 7 and Sumo 19 HDR monitor-recorders.
Jeromy Young, CEO of Atomos, said: “We are excited that we can still bring our lively Atomos raffle to our customers, followers and friends through our online platform. We are thrilled that we can support our loyal Atomos community by ensuring that no one misses out on our infamous daily tradeshow prize draw and we can still bring a smile to the winners faces, virtually”.
To register for your place in our prize draw, simply enter via the Atomos Academy website each day during the raffle period for a chance to win. Click here to enter: https://www.atomosacademy.com/the-atomos-raffle-online/


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Federal and State dollars may be on their way to obtain maximum social and economic benefits from harvestable marine resources, if a project proposed by the Phoenix Food Consulting, Ltd, of Anchorage, receives funding.
According to the companies President and founder, Gail Marshall, Ph.D., the purpose of the project is to increase the value, markets, and utilization of Alaska Salmon. "I've been working to help grow the market for Alaska seafood by working with processors to produce more user friendly, value added type products. I have put in a proposal for a lot of federal and state research funds to create some new pilot lines and markets for a salmon industry that is seriously hurt by declining global markets, demand and price, due to competition from farmed salmon," said Marshall, in a recent presentation to the Kenai Chamber of Commerce.
Marshall believes that by making consumer friendly products like the catfish and poultry industries have done that we will be able to grow the demand for Alaskan seafood. "I think the demand for Alaskan salmon is going to grow. The more farm fish that are out there, the more unique and special Alaskan salmon become," added Marshall.
She is targeting Federal and State dollars to compete with the added competition from other counties producing farm fish bound for the American market. Marshall claims the Chilean government alone is spending $300 million dollars and Canada multiple hundreds of millions of dollars to market their value added products in the U.S. "I encourage anyone with a passion for this industry in other states to contact their Senators and Congressmen and have them support projects that will help our domestic fishing industry."
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Hurtigruten Group has confirmed the appointment of Steven Taylor as the new chief commercial officer of the company.
In his new position, he will lead the development and execution of strategic commercial initiatives and will sit on the executive management team.
Taylor is a highly-respected commercial, brand and marketing leader with global experience working at Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts and Accor Hotels.
He joins Hurtigruten Group from Accor, where he was chief marketing officer and has worked extensively across premium, luxury and lifestyle brands in the travel and hospitality industry across the world.
Speaking about the new appointment, chief executive of Hurtigruten Group, Daniel Skjeldam, said: “We are delighted to welcome Steven to the Hurtigruten Group family.
“His wealth of experience in the travel and hospitality sector will hugely enhance our ambitious growth plans and help maximize visibility of our brands while attracting and nurturing engagement with new and existing guests.”
Taylor will take up his position this month and will be based in London.


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No gold rush: insights-driven maturity will continue to evade in 2019
A majority of brands are still unable to extract value from their data at scale and drive true results. That’s unlikely to change in 2019, according to Forrester predictions.
In the coming weeks, Marketing will cover key 2019 predictions from Forrester, exploring technology, leadership, CX and culture changes for the coming year. This week, the spotlight is on business insights and data.
As many companies make progress to becoming data driven, true insights-driven maturity will still evade many, according to Forrester’s ‘Predictions 2019: Business Insights’ report.
The majority of enterprises, it says, are still unable to extract value from their data at scale and drive business results.
The report offers five predictions for 2019:
- The data economy is no gold rush – most data sellers and self-serve marketplaces will fail.
- Storytelling skills will drive a quarter of hires and promotions of insights professionals.
- The mad dash for derelict dashboards will end – firms will discard more than half.
- Ambient data governance will take the trauma out of old-school governance.
- A quarter of firms with data lakes will adopt data fabrics to revive big data dreams.
Fifty-seven percent of global data and analytics decision makers are still at the early stages of their insights-driven business transformation, according to Forrester Analytics. This puts them in the ‘beginner’ maturity segment. Only 8% demonstrate advanced insights-driven competencies.
Advanced firms excel in key competencies like a sound data strategy, agile insight processes, modern data technology and an upskilled insights workforce.
Selling data won’t work
In 2019, there will be a shift in the way firms that commercialise their data will provide insights to buyers.
At present, 47% of these services report commercialising their data in multiple ways:
- 49% sell raw data directly via download or file transfer
- 38% sell applications that enable users to see trends and insights in the data, and
- 30% share data with strategic partners through a data co-op.
Starting in 2019, this will change. Forrester predicts more firms will deliver insights either directly as incremental services offerings, or indirectly through external data and services partners.
“Most efforts to simply ‘sell data’ will fail. Understanding the right use cases, identifying the target audience and delivering a new product isn’t easy, but collaborating with partners to bring insights to market will prove more successful,” writes Forrester.
Data storytelling that drives decisions gets results, and advanced firms will prioritise growing this capability. It’s not just about the data – storytelling requires soft skills that many don’t associate with analytics work.
Forrester continues, “In 2019, forward-thinking forms will act on hiring and also on growing and retaining storytelling talent through training. They’ll be out in front of a global trend that focuses on soft skills for high-value insights roles such as data analysts, including persuasion, social influence and creativity.”
Ambient data governance
Ambient data governance is described as deploying self-service intelligent technology that governs and stewards data in-stream during data gathering and preparation. It enables the continuous management of data quality, resulting a more contextual, ‘ambient’ data stewardship.
Forrester is hopeful that ambient data governance will prevail as a strategy to automate and intelligently scale data policy deployment while learning and adapting policies based on data consumer interaction. “This way, data curation simply aligns with data consumers’ current activities rather than disrupting business as usual.”
Virtual data lakes
The once-popular ‘data lake’ approach can quickly get out of control, says the report. The concept – plumbing data from numerous enterprise applications and pouring it into a data lake so that multiple enterprise users can use it for business intelligence and machine learning – is like a “pristine lake fed by a couple of babbling brooks and a few swimmers.”
The problem? “Scale it up to hundreds and thousands of data sources and users and now you get a lake fed by hundreds of streams with hundreds of swimmers.”
Forrester recommends a data fabric, enabling firms to access data from multiple sources for real-time applications including data lakes.
“In 2019, enterprises that have already implemented data lakes will take the next logical step and adopt data fabric technology to power virtual data lakes. These virtual data lakes will provide logical access to existing data lakes and numerous other unaccessed data sources.”
More Forrester predictions for 2019
- Price wars make a comeback as lazy brands lose patience with CX »
- The future of payments: autonomous and effortless »
- Brands that obsess over CX will damage their EX »


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Canada is getting the Essential Phone too, and (surprise!) it will be a carrier exclusive
Exclusivity and Essential are two words that seem to go hand in hand these days. Andy Rubin's upcoming smartphone was recently announced as a Sprint exclusive here in the United States, and it's now coming exclusively to Telus in Canada too. This new announcement makes Canada and the US the first and only two countries so far to get the Essential Phone—see what I mean about exclusivity?
All talk about the 'E' word aside, Telus has also announced a few details regarding the device's availability. The Essential Phone will launch in late summer, both online and in retail stores. Pre-orders will be accepted on telus.com at the end of July. Customers will have the choice of purchasing the phone outright or through one of Telus' Your Choice plans once it is available.
Telus did not provide any info on price, except that details "will be shared in the coming weeks." Given that the price of the Essential Phone in the US will be $699, there is a chance that the handset could cost upwards of CAD $900 upfront.
As to why Andy Rubin chose Telus, this is what he had to say:
"We selected Telus as our preferred partner in Canada due to our strong alignment on the importance of continuous innovation and support for customer choice."
To which Telus representative David Fuller replied:
"We're excited to be the launch partner for the Essential Phone in Canada. We take pride in carrying the latest smartphones and technology ... This partnership is another opportunity to do just that."
Fuller also said he was "pleased" to sell the Essential 4K 360-degree camera, which Rubin believes will be perfect for creating immersive VR video, alongside the Essential Phone. There were no details provided on its price, but it should launch at the same time as the Essential Phone.


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DA grilled over 1.3M MT rice import in 2014
MANILA, Philippines—A partylist lawmaker questioned the need to import 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of rice this year even when the country is expecting at least 96 percent rice self-sufficiency rate in 2014.
During Wednesday’s budget hearing of the Department of Agriculture (DA) in the House of Representatives, DA Secretary Proceso Alcala said the country got a 96 percent rice self-sufficiency rate in 2013, from 82 percent in 2010.
Alcala said the country only imported 500,000 metric tons of rice in 2013 to fill in the four percent deficit.
But this year, the country seeks a more ambitious 96 to 98 percent rice self-sufficiency rate, Alcala said.
This means the projected supply of rice will be at 12.38 million MT to fill in the demand for 12.9 million MT, Alcala added.
To fill in the deficit, Alcala said they would import at least 800,000 MT of rice on top of the 500,000 MT of import that President Benigno Aquino III announced in his State of the Nation Address in late July.
Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares questioned the need to import heavily when last year the country only made limited rice import.
He noted that the difference in the rice self-sufficiency rate this year from 2013 is minimal.
“If we have 96 percent rice self-sufficiency in 2013 and we imported 500,000 MT, and our rice self-sufficiency rate in 2014 will be at 96 to 98 percent and we will import 1.3 million MT, how can you explain this to the people?” Colmenares said.
“The math doesn’t add up,” he added.
He added that local farmers’ income is severely affected by the sale of imported rice in the market.
Alcala failed to answer the question, merely saying that their proposed P51.7-billion budget for 2015 will address the farmers’ needs.
“That’s why we need to help the farmers to lower their production cost through technology,” Alcala said.
The agency is seeking a P51.7-billion budget in 2015, or two percent higher from the P50.74 billion in 2014.
According to the budgetary major final output, the bulk of the 2015 budget or P16.2 billion will go to technical and support services, followed by farm-to-market road network services at P11.6 billion, poverty reduction at P4.3 billion, agriculture and fishery machineries, equipment and facilities support services at P4.1 billion, irrigation network services at P1.6 billion, among others.
Alcala said the production volume for 2013 reached 18.4 million MT, the agency’s highest yield of palay to date.
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While much of the news out of camp Corolla has been surrounding the still far off 2014 Toyota Corolla, Toyota would like you to know it has a perfectly good model for the coming year.
Read This Article
On Friday, Toyota President Akio Toyoda released a teaser video of the all-new 2012 Toyota Camry.
When you sell a lot of cars, you recall a lot of cars.
This week, Toyota released pricing info on most 2012 models and select Lexus vehicles.


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Sacramento, CA – June 17, 2021 – Today, GRIN – the only influencer marketing platform built for ecommerce – released the results of its most recent survey, revealing a divergence in attitudes and habits on social media for male and female consumers. The data details specific consumer preferences on social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and more, ultimately highlighting interesting disparities in the way the two groups interact and engage with the influencers they follow. As many organizations’ digital footprints continue to expand, this gender divide on social media will impact the way DTC brands communicate with their audiences – giving brands a look into what type of content, post, or influencer makes the most noticeable impression on one group compared to another.
The data also shows that men are willing to spend much more when making purchases sight-unseen through social media if the influencer was one they trusted, signifying men place a higher reliance on authenticity while online than women.
“The creator economy has grown exponentially over the past year and we’re seeing its development and popularity impact certain groups in different ways,” says Brandon Brown, CEO and Co-Founder of GRIN. “No matter the audience or subset, it’s clear that social media, and specifically influencer marketing, will play a major role in DTC brands’ ability to not only market, but also increase reach, loyalty, and secure repeat buys effectively.”
The survey additionally highlights men are typically more trusting on social media than women. However, women prefer to follow ‘real’ influencers, as opposed to celebrities – revealing somewhat of a dichotomy. Women would rather follow influencers that appear ‘real,’ yet simultaneously don’t possess the same level of trust as men that prefer following celebrities leading more unattainable lifestyles.
“While user behavior and attitudes may differ based upon any number of qualifiers such as gender, background, or job role, the function an influencer plays in elevating a brand’s visibility is universal,” Brown continued. “There’s no question the brand and influencer relationship is central to heightening credibility and authenticity across social media platforms. This type of synergy will remain critical to successfully reaching the current and next generation of digital consumers.”
The national survey was conducted online by Pollfish on behalf of GRIN on April 21, 2021. It includes responses from 1,000 social media users ages 16 and up in the United States. For more information, please visit our site.
GRIN is the only influencer marketing software built for ecommerce. GRIN’s end-to-end solution helps brands find and engage with high-quality influencers, streamline email outreach, develop authentic relationships within a private CRM, seed products, create discount codes and affiliate links, track content and rights, and create in-depth reports to analyze the success of influencer marketing programs.
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India's economy boomed on the back of its services sector taking off in a big way mainly driven by the IT/ITeS space. Manufacturing was always given a short shrift in a country of a billion plus people with a burgeoning youth population wanting jobs.
The big shift came in the form of the Modi government's Make in India push emphasising the need to pull manufacturing out of the morass it had been for long. The PLI scheme announced in 2020 acted as the perfect booster and the results have started trickling in.
See Also: Historic Budgets India has seen and the FMs who presented them
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The prescience of the PLI scheme can be gauged from the number of new-age sectors for which it has been implemented. That's a big positive going forward as the world speeds up transition to more greener sources of energy.
That is also where a lot of jobs would be created as India becomes the new-age factory to the world.
"The government has meticulously selected a diverse set of sectors for PLI incentives. It has selected multiple new-age sectors such as mobile phones, Advance Chemistry Cell (ACC) batteries, high efficiency solar PV modules, drones, wearables, semiconductors and specialty steel. To be sure, 74% of the government incentives are directed towards these new-age sectors. These new-age sectors would help India to gain prominence as a manufacturing hub and become a leader in industry 4.0," said Hetal Gandhi, Director - Research, CRISIL.
India can establish its manufacturing prowess in these new-age sectors and become a strong claimant to the title of new age manufacturer of the world. This will also help India in taking a leadership position in sectors that will see a demand boom globally and move up the value chain in exports.
Budget 2023: Your financial future rests on these 7 people's shoulders
"With 74% of the government incentives directed towards new age manufacturing sectors, the Government is positioning India as a contender for becoming the new age factory of the world. Furthermore this will also aid exports of new age technologies and products from India providing a leg up for attaining the 1 trillion dollar export target outlined by GOI. To be sure, PLI sector linked exports would account for 45-50% of incremental exports from India," Gandhi added.
One of the issues faced by global manufacturers is a limited supplier base in the country due to which the reliance on imports goes up creating unnecessary bottlenecks.
"Strengthening the supplier base and increasing the amount of sourcing from India would create a strong manufacturing ecosystem and streamline the manufacturing supply chain in India. This would boost India’s attractiveness as a manufacturing hub, enable higher investments and enhance the success rate of the PLI scheme," Gandhi said.
Skilling in the right direction
Apart from incentive-based schemes like PLI, the government should allocate more funds to upskilling and vocational training in the upcoming Budget 2023-24. This is required to further sharpen the skills that are needed for new-age sectors that will drive the next leg of manufacturing growth.
"India is blessed with a massive workforce; however our labor productivity lags behind other emerging Asian countries. The government should increase allocation to skill development and vocational training efforts," said Ritika Chhabra, Quant Macro Strategist, Prabhudas Lilladhar PMS.
Not just that, India needs to remove the cobwebs that shackle the growth of businesses that want to grow. The Modi government has done well in improving the ease of doing business. There are areas like contract enforcement where improvement can instill confidence in investors as they plan to shift production away from China.
"The government’s continued focus on improving ease of doing business will attract more domestic and foreign participation in setting up new businesses. While India’s ranking has jumped from 142 in 2014 to 63, further improvement will attract more investments," Chhabra added.
Exporting our way to growth
In addition to India's vast domestic market, manufacturers look for the lucrative exports market before setting up production units. India's manufacturing exports are expected to touch $1 trillion by 2027-28, according to a Bain & Company report.
India needs to work on trade pacts to make exports lucrative for companies as they plan to diversify their production. FTAs could be the magnate for manufacturers to make those key production decisions.
India's share of exports in global trade is a mere 1.6%. FTAs will help integrate India into key global supply chains as they get reworked.
Centre's other key initiatives like the PM Gati Shakti and National Logistics Policy will provide the facilitating environment for India's manufacturing ecosystem to boom.
Budget 2023 can help the middle class Indian in these ways
Budget 2023 a few weeks away
- Front Page
- Pure Politics
- Brands & Companies
- Adani Stocks Stay Under Pressure in Choppy Mkt
India’s stock indices swung between gains and losses in choppy trading on Monday as Adani shares dropped for the third straight day, following the Hindenburg Research report.Abu Dhabi-Based IHC Commits $400m to Adani Enterprises FPO
Additional investments of $1-1.1b likely from Middle East, Southeast Asia entities.CXOs may Get Average 9.1% Pay Hike in ’23: Survey
India Inc’s top-level executives including chief executives are likely to get a 9.1% average salary hike in 2023, according to Aon’s latest Executive Rewards Survey. This is a slight drop from average salary increment of 9.7% last year, when salary hikes saw a correction post-pandemic, but were higher than pre-Covid increment of 8.1% in 2019.
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CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- RadioShack Corp. turned in a sharply higher first-quarter profit Monday after making deep cuts in spending and its workforce.
Fort Worth, Texas-based RadioShack, facing increasing competition in wireless retailing from bigger rivals Best Buy Co., Circuit City Stores Inc. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc, is in the midst of a sweeping turnaround.
The retailer, known mostly for its accessories, batteries and other gadgets for wireless products, said it earned $42.5 million, or 31 cents a share, compared with last year's profit of $8.4 million, or 6 cents a share.
Shares surged as much as 12% in early trading before easing up and finishing with a gain of just under 5% at $29.07.
At least one analyst warned that the stock might be getting ahead of itself.
"The stock is not cheap based on full potential earnings for the year," said Jefferies analyst Timothy Allen. The company did not update its full-year forecast of $1 a share to $1.20 a share.
Monday's trading range implied a price-to-earnings multiple of roughly 20 times, "which we view as too high relative to the company's longer-term EPS growth," Allen said.
"As estimates are revised and future earnings expectations are reassessed, we think that many of the momentum investors driving the stock may be more inclined to look for exit points than to add new positions," he said.
The results included a set of unusual items such as a $8.5 million pre-tax charge linked to severance charges that was more than offset by a $14 million pre-tax gain tied to a federal tax reversal. When it all shook out, RadioShack RSH, -1.12% said its earnings were helped by 2 cents a share in the quarter.
Total sales plunged 14.5% to $992 million from $1.16 billion a year ago after the company shuttered 506 company-operated stores and kiosks. The electronics retailer also continues to get hit by issues in its postpaid wireless business.
Analysts, on average, expected RadioShack to post a profit of 13 cents a share on revenue of $1.04 billion, according to Thomson Financial.
Same-store sales, the industry's benchmark of growth measured by receipts rung up at stores open longer than a year, tumbled 9.2%.
"We took the opportunity earlier this year to warn that same-store sales numbers for the first quarter were likely to be challenging, given the highly promotional nature of our business in the first quarter last year. And so it proved," said Chief Executive Julian Day in the earnings release. "Nonetheless, against this background we were able to produce financial results [that] reflected steady improvement in our operating economics."
Gross margins were considerably better as the company took steps to improve its inventory management and the merchandise mix overall. Much of its problems a year ago were because it wasn't stocking the types of high-margin products many consumers were looking for.
At the same time, RadioShack slashed its expenses by 16.9% to $412 million for the quarter as it let go of hundreds of employees and cut out costs for advertising and outside services.
That also helped boost free cash flow, which was significantly better at $37 million at the end of the quarter compared with the prior year's use of $310 million.
RadioShack began to shake up its finances and structure in February 2006, cutting jobs, closing stores and restocking shelves.
Last summer it hired Day, who was widely credited with the turnaround at Kmart stores and was at the helm during the retailer's buyout of Sears Roebuck & Co. to create Sears Holdings Corp. SHLD, -0.52%
Since Day joined the retailer, shares have nearly doubled to Friday's close of $27.72.
Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler noted in an early research report that the top-line challenges appeared "mitigated" by a much leaner inventory position.
The results, he said, "reinforce our view that Day can raise profitability to surprising levels and that there is in fact a place in the U.S. consumer world for a convenience-based retailer of technology solutions," he said.


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Tesla Motors, Inc.'s Next Stop: $320?
Model S. Image source: Tesla.
Things haven't been so hot ever since Tesla reported first-quarter earnings and accelerated its production plans. Shares have fallen since the announcement on concerns that the goal is simply too hard to meet, yet Tesla is setting the stage for an external capital raise in order to take a shot.
Like most battleground stocks, Street analysts are rather divided on Tesla shares. From the bullish camp, Evercore ISI analyst George Galliers is now reiterating his buy rating on the EV maker (via StreetInsider). Furthermore, he's boosting his price target from $310 to $320, which represents approximately 55% upside from current prices.
Word on the Street
The analyst notes that there is a prevailing perception that Tesla is unable to deliver on its goals, due in part to a track record of under-delivering. Galliers believes this is simply relative to overly ambitious targets (much like the 500,000 annual production by 2018 goal). If you zoom out and look at what Tesla has accomplished so far, it's actually quite impressive.
This echoes my own sentiments that in absolute terms, Tesla has actually executed quite well. Even if it misses its lofty targets for 2018, we're still talking about rather enviable growth rates. It's worth acknowledging that while Tesla has had missteps and operational challenges in its short history, it's also the only new company that has successfully entered the American auto industry in over a century. The odds have never been in Tesla's favor, so even getting to its current position in the market is impressive.
Model X. Image source: Tesla.
Galliers also notes that traditional automakers don't often release specific timelines for product launches, beyond broad target dates. If traditional automakers experience development delays, they are more likely to slip beneath the radar since their timelines aren't as broadly publicized.
The analyst estimates that Tesla will end up delivering 394,000 cars in 2018, which is among the more bullish estimates floating around out there. For what it's worth, I don't believe any Street analyst is currently modeling for Tesla to hit 500,000. To be clear, Galliers acknowledges the "immense challenge" that will be associated with ramping to 500,000. However, the analyst does not consider it an impossible task, like many others do.
It also appears that Tesla wants to minimize how much capital it may raise. Tesla realizes that it will likely need external cash, but wants to be able to use as much internal cash flow as possible before turning to public markets.
The article Tesla Motors, Inc.'s Next Stop: $320? originally appeared on Fool.com.
Evan Niu, CFA owns shares of Tesla Motors, andhas the following options: long January 2018 $180 calls on Tesla Motors. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Tesla Motors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Copyright 1995 - 2016 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.


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By NICK WINGFIELD
Electronic Arts Inc.'s chief operating officer, John Schappert, has left the videogames publisher to join Zynga Inc. as a senior executive, said people familiar with the matter.
In a filing with securities regulators Tuesday, EA of Redwood City, Calif., said Mr. Schappert resigned from EA on Monday and left the company that same day.
People familiar with the matter said Mr. Schappert has joined Zynga, the fast-growing social games startup in San Francisco that makes FarmVille, CityVille and other popular Facebook games.
Mr. Schappert is becoming chief operating officer of Zynga, according to a person familiar with the matter. A spokeswoman for Zynga declined to comment.
Mr. Schappert joined EA in June 2009 as chief operating officer, after serving as a corporate vice president at Microsoft Corp. managing portions of its videogame business. Prior to that, he was a longtime EA executive.
Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1KeVTsw00


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B-TOWN BIZ: Longtime Burien Business Herr Backyard Center Closing June 15
Longtime Burien business Herr Backyard Center announced that they will be closing June 15 (NOTE: closing date changed from June 1 after an employee contacted us) after being in their historic Five Corners location at 107 SW 160th for numerous years.
The good folks at Herr had been Advertisers with us in the past, and we’re sad to hear of the store’s closing (we were frequent customers and always bought our holiday trees there!).
Their website appears to be down, and we had heard rumors about the impending closing due to Dianne’s retirement, as well as failed attempts to find a new business partner.
On Tuesday (April 24), we found this post on Craigslist:
Herr backyard garden center is getting ready to close in June. we have a lot of racking and display items for sale:
100s of pegboard hooks from $.10-$.50 each
steel industrial racking
a Christmas tree netting machine
two steel tree carts
an assortment of both wooden and steel displays
we are located on 107 sw 160th street and are open from 10-5 wednesdays to sundays. bring all inquires to the front counter and we will be happy to negotiate a price from there.
We’ve got word out to Owners Dianne and Lisa, and will update this post when we hear back from them.


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The talent wars are not likely to end anytime soon. Various trends—including the widespread adoption of digital technologies, the increasing need to tailor operations for different customer segments, and a heightened focus on supply chain risk—will continue to raise the bar for supply chains and, by extension, the skills required to manage them.
For many organizations, the talent problem is exacerbated by the desire to keep headcount costs down. Indeed, supply chain headcount costs can be considerable, easily reaching 10 percent of revenue, according to PwC’s Performance Measurement Group benchmark research. Yet focusing exclusively on the cost component of the talent equation can ultimately prove detrimental, given that some of the positions needed to manage today’s supply chains demand higher salaries than they did even a few years ago.
Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.


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BROOMFIELD, CO – From the Colorado Department of Agriculture: In the race to develop a successful, viable hemp industry, Colorado is now home to the first U.S.-bred hemp seed to qualify as Association of Official Seed Certifying Agencies (AOSCA) certified seed. “This is an exciting time for the industrial hemp industry. It seems breeding, technology, and information advances are happening at the speed of light; this is a giant step for American hemp farmers,” said Duane Sinning, CDA’s Division of Plant Industry Assistant Director.
New West Genetics, Ft. Collins, Colo., submitted a variety trademarked as NWG-ELITE. The variety is the first U.S.-bred hemp seed to pass the Colorado Department of Agriculture’s hemp trials and qualify as AOSCA certified seed. According to their website, “NWG uses genomic technology and data-driven discovery to create large-scale, harvestable cannabis, greatly enhancing the sustainability of the industry and paving the way for large-scale product development….The large scale production of cannabis that we enable serves our mission of improving patient access and affordability and increasing options for farmers looking for rotational crops that offer a better return than other commodity crops.”
In 2016, the Colorado Department of Agriculture launched the first certified hemp seed program in the country to grow hemp across Colorado’s diverse growing conditions to discover which seeds would grow crops that fall within industrial hemp THC requirements. CDA Approved Certified Seed provides growers with the confidence they expect in seed quality. The program tests industrial hemp requirements set by Amendment 64 in the Colorado constitution, which closely mirrors the federal Farm Bill. Colorado state law requires that industrial hemp tests at or below 0.3% THC concentration on a dry weight basis. All varieties tested were accepted by the Colorado Seed Growers Association’s Variety Review Board and these varieties passed the THC validation trials.


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As per the numbers posted by analyst firm Loup Ventures, Apple Pay had around 127 million users globally at the end of 2017. In comparison, the service had around 62 million users at the end of 2016. When one accounts for the 795 million active iPhones out there, this means that Apple Pay has around 16 percent adoption.
However, this does not take into account the fact that Apple Pay is not available worldwide, and in certain markets where it is available, it is severely limited. The firm believes that Apple Pay will see widespread adoption over the next 3-5 years.
The launch of Apple Pay for the web has also given the service adoption a boost, with online merchant adoption increasing by 50 percent. Additionally, Apple Pay is globally supported by 2700+ banks — a 41 percent increase on a yearly basis. Interestingly, the firm estimates that out of the 16 percent Apple Pay users out there, 11 percent are international users, while the remaining 5 percent are in the United States.
The adoption of Apple Pay has been slower than what Apple anticipated when it launched the payment service. And yet it is surprising to see the adoption being slower in Apple’s home market despite a strong push from the company. Perhaps, this can be seen from the fact that out of the top 100 U.S. retailers, only 24 accepted Apple Pay for in-app transactions. Despite the slow adoption though, Apple Pay dominates the NFC payment transactions market with over 90 percent of the market share.
What do you think about Apple Pay? Are you satisfied with it? Or do you find it lacking in many regards which is why you have stopped using it altogether? Do share your thoughts with us through the comment section below.
[Via Loup Ventures]Like this post? Share it!


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Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD) entered into a joint venture to develop computers for use in Chinese schools, a move it hopes will boost its business in China, the U.S. chip maker said Tuesday.
The venture, with China’s Basic Education Software Co. Ltd. (CBE) is called the Beijing CBE AMD Information Technology Co. Ltd. and plans to develop student PCs, teacher PCs and a classroom server, AMD said in a statement.
The systems, meant for China’s IT education market, are planned to contain products from all of AMD’s three main product lines; x86-based microprocessors, embedded MIPS-based processors and flash memory chips, AMD said.
AMD hopes the joint venture with CBE will make it a preferred supplier in China and expand its participation on the local market, the Sunnyvale, California, company said.
CBE was formed in February last year by the Shanghai Shenhua Holdings Co. Ltd., the Beijing Normal University and the state-owned National Center for Curriculum and Text, according to AMD.
Financial details of the joint venture were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to regulatory approval.


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Martha Is Dead, an upcoming first-person thriller by developer LKA and Wired Productions, won’t have parity across its versions. While the Windows PC and Xbox versions of the game will launch as its developer intended on Feb. 24, the PlayStation versions will be altered for content. Wired Productions revealed the change of plans via Twitter on Friday, just two weeks out from release.
“It is with regret that we have had to modify the experience on the PS5 and PS4 versions, with some elements no longer playable,” the developer said on Twitter. “After over four years of passion and hard work, developer LKA now required extra time to make these unplanned changes.”
While the game will hit its scheduled launch day on all platforms, physical versions of the game for PS4 and PS5 are delayed. There will be no delay for the physical or digital versions of the game on Windows PC or Xbox Series X.
As for why the game is getting censored on PlayStation, it’s currently unclear. Polygon has reached out to Sony Interactive Entertainment and will update when the company responds.
However, there is a graphic clip circulating on social media that’s making players uncomfortable. The clip involves slicing a dead woman’s face off — first on the right side, then the forehead, and then the left. The clip shows the player lifting the severed face off of her head just before it cuts.
In its statement, Wired Productions says the developer has communicated that Martha Is Dead is intended for “adult audiences only” and features “potentially discomforting scenes and themes that may distress some players”— and that the developer offers multiple in-game warnings about that content. The aforementioned clip earns its “discomforting” description, though some would argue it shouldn’t be up to PlayStation to censor that content for players. The ESRB rated Martha Is Dead as M, citing intense violence, blood and gore, sexual themes, partial nudity, and strong language.
Martha Is Dead is set in 1944, in Tuscany, near the end of World War II. A woman named Martha is found dead in the game’s opening, and players will take on the role of Martha’s twin sister in order to understand her death during one of the darkest periods of human history.


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PBIA area Wawa convenience store zoning changes approved
The popular Wawa convenience store and gas station chain has received initial approval to build just east of Palm Beach International Airport, possibly the 680-store company’s first in the county.
The city commission on Monday voted unanimously to give the developer flexibility in determining what other businesses would go on the 8.84-acre site and to allow additional entrances to ease access from Belvedere Road. The former landfill site, to be developed by Brightwork Real Estate, is at the southeast corner of Belvedere and Australian Avenue.
Wawa, a Pennsylvania-based company whose hoagies have a fanatical following, will require a final vote of approval July 20.
The developer plans to meet with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection in early August, to negotiate an environmental rehab plan for the property, which will need contaminated soil carted away for construction to begin in early 2016, said Brightwork’s Miami attorney, Michael Goldstein.
Brightwork plans to develop the project in two phases, with the 6,119-square-foot, 16-pump gas station Wawa to come first at the northeastern corner of the property. The details of phase two are under discussion, Goldstein said.
Under the Commercial Planned Development designation granted Monday, the developer would be allowed such uses as hotels and motels, pharmacies and restaurants.
“We would love to have two hotels, a sit-down restaurant, a bank site and maybe a grocery box, an urban prototype — one that’s better-designed, that uses space efficiently and sustainably and doesn’t use two or three acres for parking.”
Wawa announced in January that it plans to open dozens of stores in Palm Beach and Broward counties during the next five years. The chain’s only Florida stores are near Tampa, Orlando and Fort Myers.
The West Palm Beach property, owned by the Hertz car rental chain, would be sold to the retail developer after an agreement is reached with the state DEP, Goldstein said. Brightwork has told the city the project represents an investment of more than $25 million, and, once finished, will employ at least 50 people.
Have a news tip or an issue of concern? Contact Tony Doris at firstname.lastname@example.org, or 561-820-4703.


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The average American has more than $9,000 in credit card debt. While having a credit card isn’t a bad thing, letting credit card debt pile up over time can place an enormous strain on your finances. Take a look at the articles, Q&A’s, blog posts and videos we have linked to this topic for ideas on how to handle credit card debt and your personal finances.
Best summer vacation ideas for families on a budget. Budget-friendly summer vacation ideas for families who can't afford to travel this summer. Are you struggling to plan a summer vacation on a budget? You’re not alone, according to a recent Bankrate survey 60 percent of Americans who aren’t planning a summer vacation have decided they [...]
Mortgage delinquency rates are down, credit delinquencies are up. CoreLogic reports 30-day-plus delinquency is the lowest it’s been in over a decade. It’s a good news, not-so-good news situation. First, the good news: More people are paying their mortgages on time. Unfortunately, credit delinquencies are up as more people are having trouble getting their [...]
Buyer’s Remorse: Is it a bargain or a bad idea? Sponsored posts from influencers and ads in social media streams motivate Americans to buy into the hype. It’s the time of year when cash and credit fly around freely. But, it’s also the season of buyers remorse. It probably won’t surprise you to learn that [...]
Is Black Friday shopping worth it this year? Your Thanksgiving night might be better spent with loved ones thanks to Cyber Monday, pre-holiday sales and post-holiday extended sales. Between Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday, U.S. consumers will spend well over $20 billion, predicted by Adobe Analytics in their holiday sales forecast. That makes up a huge [...]
How can you save money on holiday travel? Strategic planning can spare you from financial stress over the holiday season. A vast number of Americans will travel this upcoming holiday season, if last year’s number of holiday travelers are any indication. In 2017, a record 107 million Americans left their homes to travel over the [...]
Need a credit card fast? If you choose that credit card wisely, it can reduce financial stress caused later by soaring APRs and a multitude of late fees. And remember: While credit cards and credit card debt can be a huge source of financial stress, particularly if you build up a significant balance, they can [...]
Even though you haven’t set the Thanksgiving table, some consumers are already stressing about how much money they’ll spend this holiday season. According to a new survey from Experian, holiday spending is expected to go through the roof – along with consumers’ financial stress levels. The survey found that most stress comes from unexpected expenses consumers [...]
I have counseled numerous families on how to manage their finances, and there’s been a common issue among many: how to best help an adult child with his or her financial issues, from struggling to make mortgage payments to managing overwhelming credit card and student loan debt. Adults face a tough job market today—even with [...]
Today on the Clark Howard Show, Ilyce Glink filled in. She discussed the economy, shopping, and a new scary credit card scam that has made its way to Atlanta. The revised GDP numbers are in and they stink: The economy contracted this summer. The fall quarter's numbers probably won't be any better. New home sales also fell by more than 35 percent 2007 to 2008. It looks like just 400,000 new homes will be sold in 2008 -- by far the worst number since Ilyce began writing about housing 20 years ago. She took a call from Edwin who asked about funding resources for small businesses. You can download the podcast here or at iTunes.com. For show notes and updates through the week, check out her blog at www.thinkglink.com/blog . Sign up for Ilyce's free weekly newsletter on the ThinkGlink.com home page. Check out the videos at www.expertrealestatetips.net. Subscribe to her YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/expertrealestatetips and friend her to be notified about new videos.


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Starting Tuesday, Starbucks will be increasing their prices yet again. The increase ranges from five to twenty cents for most drinks. It has only been a year since the Seattle based company’s last price increase.
This does not look so great for Starbucks though, as other coffee sellers are beginning to cut prices. Last week, the J.M. Smucker Co. said it would cut prices because of the decline in prices for unroasted coffee beans that is said to be beginning soon. However, Starbucks pointed out that coffee costs are only a part of its expenses as they face rent, labor, marketing and equipment costs as well.
While food prices will not be increased, Starbucks is still actively trying to get customers to purchase more of their food items like sandwiches to increase sales.
Although many a people are angry about this increase in price, it must be realized that food price inflation is making it difficult for companies not to increase their prices. With products like milk and coffee having their own prices rise by as much as 27% in the last year, it is understandable that some companies who use a lot of these products must increase prices.
That being said, Starbucks is aware that they are industry leaders and that slight price increases will most likely not cause people to stop consuming their products. Despite their price increase in 2014, Starbucks as a brand was still able to increase its value by 44%, making it worth about $26 billion now. So while Starbucks tests customer loyalty with this price increase, I am certain that they will discover that customers are quite loyal to them.


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FICO, LexisNexis® Risk Solutions, and Equifax today described details of a pilot program currently underway. The pilot program allows 12 of the largest credit card issuers in the U.S. to use alternative data to identify creditworthy individuals who would otherwise be unlikely to obtain traditional credit.
Based on extensive research, FICO’s data scientists found that alternative data such as property records, telecommunications and utility information can reliably be used to score 15 million consumers who do not have enough credit data to generate FICO scores. By using alternative data from LexisNexis and Equifax, FICO will give card issuers a FICO® Score that complies with relevant regulations that they can use to extend credit responsibly to millions of additional people.
“Working with Equifax and LexisNexis, we set out to help unbanked, under-banked and disadvantaged people gain equal access to the standard credit products enjoyed by millions of Americans,” said Jim Wehmann, FICO’s executive vice president for Scores. “We’re excited by our pilot program’s strong results thus far. FICO’s focus is on expanding access to credit; not simply scoring more people. Our approach also addresses a paradox for people seeking their first traditional credit product – you often need a credit history before you can get traditional credit.”
The data used in FICO’s pilot program includes telecommunications and utility bills from Equifax as well as property and public records from LexisNexis. This new FICO Score is engineered to work alongside existing FICO® Scores. Card issuers will be able to use the alternative score without having to “rip and replace” existing systems, significantly lowering the cost and accelerating time to market.
“Card issuers are seeking opportunities to safely expand access to credit based on new data sources that are reliable, compliant and predictive and we have received an incredible response to this pilot program,” said Rick Trainor, CEO, LexisNexis Risk Solutions, Business Services. “LexisNexis data, which the financial services industry has trusted for more than 40 years, provides additional insights about creditworthiness that can help bring millions of consumers into the financial mainstream.”
“The best-in-class telecommunications and utility data available only from Equifax shows that unbanked consumers who, for example, make regular, on-time payments to wireless carriers, may be creditworthy and reliable customers,” said Joy Wilder Lybeer, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Alliances, Equifax. “We want to help card issuers identify as many additional creditworthy people as possible, so as to work toward a more financially inclusive and responsible borrowing environment.”
FICO is planning to complete the pilot program in the coming months, and expects to make the score based on alternative credit data available to more lenders later this year.
Source: FICO Press Release


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As if having a first oneman live wasn’t a big enough milestone, CLØWD has an exciting announcement–the tickets for their first oneman show were sold out in just one minute!
CLØWD formed late last year, but officially began activities in early January. That’s right–it has only been four months since they have begun band activities, yet CLØWD has already built quite a bit of momentum and made their presence in the scene!
Their first oneman at Ikebukro EDGE is on August 28, and begins at 17:30 JST. Don’t be bummed if you weren’t able to grab tickets! CLØWD will be having another oneman celebrating their one year anniversary together on January 7, 2016 and judging from the success of ticket sales, CLØWD will probably have more onemans in the future as well! Take a look at their announcement video:
August is going to be a hot summer month for CLØWD! In addition to having their first oneman in August, CLØWD will also be releasing a brand new single in August as well. The only known detail about the new single is that it will be released on August 5th. We’ll keep you updated on the details when they come out, so stay alert!


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An FDA website ( found here ) now offers a widget to download to your computer or blog to keep abreast of new recalls and developments in the peanut butter salmonella outbreak. The widget lists all peanut butter recalls as broken down by category of peanut butter product.
Information about the peanut butter products that have been recalled is also available by calling the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) at 1-800-CDC-INFO.
MSNBC reports that there have been up to 20 million visits to the U.S. government website set up to list recalls of peanut butter products believed to be possibly infected with salmonella. MSNBC also warns that the FDA stated “At this time, we have not determined the amount of remaining products” according to Michael Herndon, FDA spokesman.
It seems there may be peanut butter products still lurking on store shelves that may contain salmonella. This is a frightening update indeed from the FDA. The Peanut Corporation of America has endangered the lives of many Americans with their salmonella tainted peanut products.
The FDA seems a very incompetent organization. President Obama is now investigating the FDA’s handling of the peanut butter salmonella outbreak. He seems dissatisfied with the inability of the FDA to keep tabs on food manufacturers to ensure America does not face future salmonella outbreaks from tainted food products.
According to MSNBC, peanut butter products have been recalled from up to 420 companies that obtain peanut butter or peanut butter paste from the Peanut Corporation of America. Thus far, 8 people have died in the salmonella outbreak and 550 people in 43 states have been sickened.
I have decided to forgo eating any peanut butter products. It was an easy decision to make after reading about the disgusting conditions at the Peanut Corporation of America. Now the mere thought of peanut butter turns my stomach.
I am sure many Americans are also shunning any sort of peanut butter or peanut butter product. It seems very clear that the FDA is not currently keeping America’s food supply safe. They must update their testing regimens for warehouse visits and must work harder to ensure American supermarkets are full of food that is safe to eat.
One doesn’t want to think of food as a lethal weapon. However, there have been salmonella outbreaks due to so many different types of food in recent years it is starting to feel like Russian roulette to eat commercial food products.
http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/peanutbutterrecall/index.cfm (FDA list of recalled peanut butter products)


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Precise surface temperature sensors with lug terminals for up to 150 °C
TDK Corporation has expanded the NTCGP series of TDK NTC temperature sensors with types featuring lug terminals for the precise measurement of surface temperatures from -40 °C to +150 °C. With their metal ...
Overclockers can celebrate Raspberry Pi turbo mode
Samsung begins mass producing industry's highest density (128GB) embedded NAND storage
Samsung Electronics today announced that it has begun volume production of 128-gigabyte (GB) embedded memory for next-generation smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices.
Samsung announces production of 2GB LPDDR3 mobile memory, using 30nm-class technology
Samsung Electronics has begun mass producing the industry's first two gigabyte (GB), low power double-data-rate 3 (LPDDR3) memory, using 30 nanometer class technology, for next-generation mobile devices. ...
Epson develops new Ultimicron panel for electronic viewfinders
Seiko Epson Corporation has developed a new high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) TFT color panel for electronic viewfinders used in mid- to high-end digital interchangeable lens system cameras. The new panel ...
Intel unveils Rosepoint—CPU and WiFi on same chip
Power of GeForce GTX available to gamers everywhere with two new Kepler-based GPUs
NVIDIA today introduced two new high-performance GPUs, the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 and GeForce GTX 650. These new gaming GPUs deliver the exceptional performance and power efficiency of the award-winning NVIDIA Kepler architecture ...
Intel workers have Android Jelly Bean on Atom phones
Intel: Ultrabooks will be thin and light but heavy in innovation
Intel will highlight next-gen Haswell processors at next week's IDF
Huge touchscreen to allow for real-time analysis
A massive touchscreen measuring more than 4 square metres has been built at the University of Dundee by EPSRC-funded researchers in the School of Computing.


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Women in Business - Gwendolyn Dare HagemanNov 13, 2023 04:44PM ● By Randee Brown
Moving away from external validation and focusing more on believing in herself was a learning curve, according to Gwendolyn Dare Hageman, Owner of Darë Vegan Cheese.
Asheville was a good place to develop recipes for vegan cheese. The niche and community support was there, and the perception of vegan products had begun to change when Hageman began creating her recipes. The open, inviting environment supported the creation of a unique food business, and she launched her brand Darë Vegan Cheese at a farmers market in 2019.
Hageman said starting her business was scary at first. She was nervous if anyone would like her products, but found so many loving the vegan cheeses and encouraging her to grow her business.
“That’s a very ‘woman’ thing to do,” Hageman said. “My belief in myself has gotten stronger, but I needed that external validation at first. Women business owners question themselves a lot more in this society built by men. We have to try harder and get out of our brain a bit more, and that doesn’t come as naturally to women.”
Her business focused on slow, grassroots growth.Others told her there were easier ways to grow her business; however Hageman said those ways would require capital from male investors, which she wanted to avoid. Starting with money she saved while working as a server, she put her business earnings back into her company to grow organically.
The COVID-19 pandemic occurred during the first year of her business, and after losing her job as a server, Hageman had to put her head down and see what could be done. There were still farmers markets, and wanting to support local and not lose the hard work of the first six months in business, she began pivoting to offer services like delivering cheesecakes to people’s homes.
“Covid actually helped the business grow in a controlled way,” Hageman said. “Working out of the kitchen at Chestnut, I got a website and grew wholesale accounts. There was a lot to learn as a business owner, but by the end of 2020, I needed to hire more help than the best friend that was helping me at the time.”
Hageman joined the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce’s Elevate program in 2021, immediately connecting with their only female mentor. She said most advice comes from men, but was grateful to find the woman that would become more than her mentor. “She was more of a friend than a mentor,” Hageman said. “She gave support as well as sales advice, and was really my first cheerleader.”
This mentor helped Darë Vegan Cheese apply for and win an NC IDEA grant, the first time Hageman accepted outside funding for her business. At the time, she still thought “Wow, these people believe in me,” which was really heartwarming for her.
The grant allowed Hageman to acquire some basic things to further her business as well as get the word out across the city and the state. Growing out of Chestnut’s basement kitchen, she found a location in Weaverville that had hosted two other women-owned businesses before hers.
“The energy of that space is so beautiful,” Hageman said. “It’s inspiring to take over a space from other women who have created beautiful, sustainable businesses."
Like the women business owners before her, it was important for Hageman to nurture and take care of the people that work for her. She received pushback from male mentors that told her to hire more people for $10 an hour.
“That exploitative business mindset will never overtake me,” Hageman said. “I have a love and passion for what I’m doing, and the business is succeeding because the people that work for me have that same passion. They have a positive mindset and a sense of ownership. I’m not asking to get rich, but rather to help enrich everyone’s lives. People need a wage to live off of and a job to enjoy, and I truly believe that this concept can change the world.
“I was at a point of men not taking me seriously,” Hageman said. “But I get to pick our level of growth. It’s either exponential or sustainable, and I won’t chip away at my values. It’s incredibly empowering for others to see the potential and then tell them it’s not theirs. My values are more important than their advice.”
Making others happy by creating good food is everything Hageman ever dreamed of. Always “driven and stubborn,” slowing down to stop and think about what brings her joy in business and in life is her advice to other women in business.
“Everyone was telling me what to do but I didn’t think any of those suggestions were it,” Hageman said. “I think this is important to all women — stop the idealization of others' opinions and define what aligns with your own downline and your own dreams, and stick to that.”


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The InterTech distinguished Scodix Ultra Pro with Foil Created The Award-Winning Work
BURBANK, California – Printograph, Inc DBA GotPrint.com, Inc has received the coveted Benjamin Franklin “Benny” award for the Digital Enhancement category. The winning work is an annual booklet called the Broker’s Product List (BPL). The BPL is a collection of each product GotPrint offers, as well as planned future offerings, showcasing the company’s capabilities to their broker customers, as well as other print industry leaders.
This year, noted Erina Sookiasian, Website Product Manager, GotPrint, they used the Scodix Ultra Pro with Foil to take it one step further. “We trusted the Scodix press to UV coat the entire cover of the BPL, to showcase the capabilities of our new system. It allows us to really flaunt our design concept and creativity. In the end, we were so pleased that we distributed over 100,000 of our catalogs to those in the print industry.”
She continued, “Scodix allowed us to combine technology and creativity to present a truly unique piece to demonstrate what GotPrint is all about. The Raised UV feature allowed us to give our products an extra design element with a modern edge. It's all about the ‘WOW’ effect, and Scodix helped us achieve that with each and every recipient of our 2017 Brokers Product List.”
While this isn’t the first award GotPrint has received, Sookiasian said it is the most recognizable. “This award tells us that we are doing something right in the industry, and that it is being recognized. We always strive to be the best and Scodix allows us to achieve new heights. It further emphasizes our commitment to reliability and the quality of our products. In the end, it really showed the marketplace what we are truly made of.”
Scodix CEO Roy Porat notes, “We are excited for GotPrint to have won this prestigious award. We know our technology helps printers create works of art — and this just goes to show how true that is. With a bit of creativity, the sky truly is the limit when it comes to the incredible work that can be created with Scodix presses. We know this is only the beginning for GotPrint too — we can’t wait to see what they produce next!”
It’s not just GotPrint that has been winning awards this summer. Recently, Scodix won 2017 Printing Industries of America InterTech Technology Award. The annual award recognizes technological innovation and excellence in the commercial printing industry.
The Scodix Ultra Pro with Foil digital press transforms a very time-consuming analog and expensive process that enables service providers and their customers to enhance their prints with vibrant foil treatments. Using the inline Scodix digital workflow, foil enhances any project in-house, who today have to outsource the foil application or to use a long and expensive make ready processes that include molds and dies.
“We were incredibly honored to receive this award,” said Porat. “We are proud of the impact the Scodix Ultra Pro with Foil is having on the market, allowing users to create innovative pieces that broaden their target markets and increase their revenue — firms like GotPrint and their Benny-winning Broker’s Product List are just one example.”
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Amazon isn't exactly impartial when it comes to tablets... you may have heard about this little thing called the Kindle Fire. But they aren't ones to let competition get in the way of a little profit, which is why the latest update to their storefront app includes compatibility with a plethora of new Android tablets, including the coveted Nexus 10. Previously it was limited to Android 4.1 tablets with very specific resolutions. Read More
Since its launch, we've had bittersweet feelings about the Amazon Mobile app for Tablets. The app shows promise as a tablet-friendly shopping solution, but until now has suffered an extremely limited compatibility, only working with tablets running 4.1 and up and carrying a 1280x800 resolution.
An update to the app today, however, has changed all that. Along with a few bug fixes, the update (to version 5.50.1010 for those keeping count at home) brings support for devices in 7" or 10" form factors, with a variety of resolutions, and loosened OS requirements. Read More
It's always exciting to see a new app hit the Play Store intended for tablets, but it's even better to see an existing app's UI updated to accommodate larger devices. Looking to bring Android tablet users a more aesthetically pleasing experience when reading the news, the New York Times Company today updated its app to version 3.0 with an interface that is no longer just a blown up version of its phone-centric counterpart. Read More
Android's tablet-optimized app selection being what it is, we're always excited to see a useful new app get revamped for bigger screens. It's true that a separate app package isn't technically necessary for transitioning to a great tablet layout, but Amazon has taken a step in the right direction, having just released Amazon Mobile for tablets to the Play Store.
If you've used the regular Amazon Mobile app, you know what you're getting with Amazon Mobile for tablets. Read More
It seems like the Android world is getting a ton of extra tablet love in the past few months. Today, Skype joined the party by finally introducing an optimized UI for those of you with a little more screen to love. While the new look is nice, it bizarrely forces your slate into landscape mode. Even on the Nexus 7, you have no choice but to use the wider layout. This probably isn't a bad thing, since it looks great in this mode, and might seem cramped otherwise. Read More
OnLive, a hugely popular on-demand gaming service which came to Android late last year, announced tonight the release of L.A. Noire: Touch Edition, which Founder and CEO Steve Perlman dubs "BY FAR the highest-performance game ever designed for tablets."
For those unaware, OnLive features 25 other touch-playable titles, some of which have been totally redesigned to support touch interaction. L.A. Noire is the latest title to get a touch makeover and is, according to Perlman, "the highest-performance console video game developed specifically for touch-enabled play via mobile cloud gaming. Read More
: Cameron took the keyboard out for a spin after the TouchWiz UX update and posted his impressions here
. In short, it fixes some bugs, but most of the shortcomings remain in my opinion, and my verdict doesn't change.
Some people may never end up updating to TouchWiz UX, so I'm leaving the review below intact.
Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is currently my favorite Android tablet, so I was excited to see how some of its accessories, like the keyboard dock in this review, pan out. Read More
With today's Motorola XOOM release, we are finding ourselves searching for apps and games optimized specifically for larger screens and raw Tegra 2 power. It doesn't look like we'll have too much trouble, as quality games have already started pouring into the Market.
The good news: 2 hours ago, Samurai II: Vengeance appeared in the Android Market.
The not so good news: the game is carrying the tag THD (Tegra HD), meaning it is optimized for Tegra-based Android devices only, according to its description. Read More
While browsing some new arrivals this afternoon, I noticed that Qik, one of the large players in the mobile video chat business, today released an app called Qik for Samsung, clearly targeted at users of Samsung Android devices. Qik has been releasing apps customized to certain classes of devices, or even individual ones, for as long as I can remember, starting with the EVO 4G last year, so seeing yet another variant doesn't surprise me (see Qik for Sprint, Qik for T-Mobile, and Qik for Atrix). Read More
CNN is not the only news organization with a tablet-optimized Honeycomb app - USA Today today (ooh, 2x "today"s in a row, it must be your lucky day) jumped on the same bandwagon with their own take on what a tablet news app should be like. News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech, Travel, Photos, and Weather sections are available, and... well, there is not much else to say about this - it's a news app on a larger screen. Read More


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Chicago Pneumatic Tools opens new offices in Turkey
First publishedon www.AggBusiness.com
Chicago Pneumatic has opened new offices in Varyap Plaza, Istanbul, Turkey.
The company is expanding its presence in the country with a new 300m2 customer centre.
The opening of the new office has great significance for our company and customers,” says Philippe Artzet, Chicago Pneumatic Tools Division president.
“It will help us to provide better service for customers, enhance the efficiency of our communication and cooperation while providing a more comfortable working environment to our employees.”
The new office provides additional space for customer support and service, as well as for product and technical training activities.


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Bosnia & Herzegovina
The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
A P&G anuncia que irá trabalhar com pequenos fazendeiros para assegurar que não haverá desmatamento em sua cadeia de distribuição do óleo de palma.
A P&G está conduzindo um projeto piloto com alguns micro fazendeiros na Malásia para ajuda-los a melhorar produção e seguir práticas sustentáveis. O resultado inicial do projeto está se mostrando promissor e esperamos expandir o programa agora em 2017.
The meetings were part of several activities P&G has spearheaded over the last few months aimed at making a positive change in the palm oil industry.
- In April, the Company set new goals calling for traceability of palm oil and palm kernel oil to supplier mills by December 31, 2015, and to plantations by 2020, while also committing to invest in building sustainable practices with small farmers.
- In May, P&G launched a partnership with the MIT Global SCALE Network’s newest center, Malaysia Institute for Supply Chain Innovation (MISI) — a joint initiative between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Malaysia — to conduct a two six-month studies to understand the complex small-farmer supply chain and how best to help local growers.
- Since May, teams of P&G leaders and MISI experts have been working with farmers and suppliers of all sizes to begin establishing traceability within the supply chain, first with larger suppliers and then mapping out longer-term solutions for small farmers.
Among those attending the workshop of experts:
- David McLaughlin of the World Wildlife Fund
- Dr. Asad Ata of MISI
- Palaniappan Swaminathan of Felda Global Ventures -- initially operated as the commercial arm of Malaysia Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA ) and now the world’s largest Crude Palm Oil producer and the second largest Malaysian palm oil refiner
- Dr. Reza Azmi of Wild Asia, a not-for-profit focused on shaping sustainable business practices in developing markets
- Marieke Leegwater of Solidaridad, an international organization with more than 45 years of global experience facilitating socially responsible, ecologically sound, and profitable supply chains
- Rikke Netterstrom of Helikonia, an Asia group of sustainability advisors
The meeting helped frame the complex challenges faced and identified valuable insights on how to tackle them.
P&G next met in a day-long session in Malaysia with 10 of its largest palm oil and palm derivative suppliers. The aim was twofold:
- For P&G to better understand the challenges and opportunities faced by its top suppliers
- For P&G suppliers to understand P&G’s new palm oil commitments and time-bound goals.
“It was an intense and highly passionate two days of meetings, discussions and brainstorming,” Sauers said. “Building sustainable behavior across the palm oil supply chain is highly complex challenge. We ae starting with our own supply chains, but we hope that our work can also help others and that together we can build sustainable practices that end deforestation.”


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The following is an analysis of the Amazon Web Services incident on 12/07/2021.
Millions of users were affected by an Amazon Web Services outage that took down major online services such as Amazon, Amazon Prime, Amazon Alexa, Venmo, Disney+, Instacart, Roku, Kindle, and multiple online gaming sites. The outage, which originated in the US-EAST-1 region on Dec. 7, 2021, is still ongoing at the time of blog publication.
AWS published a notice to its Service Health Dashboard at 12:37 PM EST that read:
“We are seeing impact to multiple AWS APIs in the US-EAST-1 Region. This issue is also affecting some of our monitoring and incident response tooling, which is delaying our ability to provide updates. We have identified the root cause and are actively working towards recovery.”
The service dashboard also noted issues with Amazon Connect, Amazon DynamoDB, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud, and AWS Support Center in the US-EAST-1 region. The outage, which hit during prime holiday shopping season, not only affected online shoppers, but also the apps that power warehouse, delivery, and Amazon Flex workers. Naturally, social media lit up with hot takes.
This is not the first significant outage that AWS has experienced in recent months. The US-EAST-1 region reported performance issues in September, 2021. In addition, there was a significant outage in November, 2020, caused by API (Application Programming Interface) errors in Amazon Kenesis.
Catchpoint detects and alerts on AWS outages first
Here at Catchpoint, we observed connectivity issues for AWS servers starting at 10:33 AM EST, considerably earlier than the AWS announcement. The 504 - Gateway time out errors indicated that the server received no upstream response.
Those 504 error responses also hit Amazon.com, as thousands of users reported that their holiday shopping was abruptly interrupted.
Waterfall graph indicating 504 error response for HTML page of Amazon site. (Catchpoint)
We also saw that AWS APIs were failing.
Scatterplot indicating test failures for services hosted on AWS. (Catchpoint)
While observability enables businesses to correlate logs, metrics, and tracing, it might not serve the purpose if your active (synthetic) monitoring tool is hosted on the same cloud that was impacted. Active monitoring from backbone and last-mile networks allows you to detect issues inside and outside the cloud. AWS mentioned in one of their status updates that some of their monitoring tools were impacted by the outage, which further delayed their resolution.
More details about the need for observability from end user locations or networks is available here.
Nobody is immune to service-impacting outages, not even monitoring vendors that RUN on public clouds!
2021 continues to be a busy year for outages. More specifically to this incident, many cloud providers have recently suffered significant service-impacting outages. Public infrastructure may be getting more reliable, but the only way to minimize the impact of an outage is to detect it early and proactively, before your customers are impacted so you troubleshoot fast, avoiding negative revenue and brand impact.
It is quite concerning that many of the monitoring vendors that enterprises depend on to keep their services safe run those monitoring systems on public cloud infrastructure. According to their status pages, this particular AWS outage appears to have impacted the following monitoring vendors:
- ThousandEyes reported an impact on the endpoint agent data collection at the same time as the AWS outage
- Datadog reported delays that impacted multiple products
- Splunk (SignalFX) reported that their AWS cloud metric syncer data ingestion was impacted
- NewRelic reported that some AWS Infrastructure and polling metrics were delayed in the US
This situation is extremely problematic: you have public cloud infrastructure failing and the monitoring vendors that are supposed to monitor those services are also failing, because they are running their systems in the same public cloud infrastructure that just had a major outage!
Rest assured that Catchpoint DOES NOT USE public infrastructure for its critical systems and cannot be impacted by public cloud outages.
For further information on major incidents in 2021, please check out our new report. You’ll find detailed analysis, as well as a checklist of best practices to prevent, prepare for, and respond to an outage.


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Boulder, Colorado (June 2, 2015) - Active Interest Media, Inc. (AIM,www.aimmedia.com) announced today that it has acquired a core industry trade brand from Catalyst Communication (www.catacom.com), adding to its growing portfolio of enthusiast magazines, events, websites, digital and social media platforms and trade properties. The assets include Outdoor Guide, a leading outdoor and ski industry direct mail service with over three decades of custom solutions for successful retailers. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Yesterday Active Interest Media announced its acquisition of Cabin Life magazine from fellow niche, enthusiast publisher Kalmbach Publishing. The magazine will be combined with AIM's Country's Best Cabins and published under the newly created Cabin Living, now the largest cabin enthusiast brand in the market. It has a combined audience of 150,000.
Boulder, CO - March 2, 2015 - Active Interest Media today announced that Andrew Clurman has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer. He retains the title of President and was formerly Chief Operating Officer. Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III, former CEO, has been named Executive Chairman and will remain President of Show Management.
Active Interest Media Inc. continues to increase its presence in Boulder with the announcement Wednesday that the company has purchased a trio of Canadian magazines. AIM, which has its corporate offices in El Segundo, California, bought women's health and fitness magazine Oxygen, healthy diet and nutrition magazine Clean Eating and bodybuilding magazine MuscleMag International from Robert Kennedy Publishing for an undisclosed sum. Robert Kennedy Publishing is based in Mississauga, Ontario, a suburb of Toronto.
Andrew Clurman discusses the rapid growth of his outdoorsy publishing company. Formed in 2003 by Efrem "Skip" Zimbalist III and headquartered in Boulder, AIM has quickly grown to 40-plus magazines through fitting acquisitions and smart diversification.
Some needed good news from the magazine publishing industry: As newsstand sales fell and circulation remained flat through the end of 2012, the latest data from GfK MRI's Survey of the American Consumer, which tracks print and digital magazine audiences, shows that overall readership among adults in the U.S. continued to grow between Spring 2012 and Spring 2013 while digital readership nearly doubled.
Bonnier Corp., the publisher of magazines such as Field & Stream and Popular Science, has struck a deal to sell Ski and Skiing magazines to Active Interest Media, the companies confirmed today.
The magazines' print business has diminished since Bonnier bought them from Time Inc. in 2007 as part of a $225 million deal for 18 enthusiast magazines.
Ad pages fell 33.7% at Ski magazine last year, a steeper drop than the 8.2% decline across magazines as a whole, according to the Publishers Information Bureau. Circulation has held roughly steady, averaging 456,945 in the second half of last year
Last month we introduced Augmented Reality to our magazine, which gives us the ability to boldly go in new multi-media directions. We're feeling very intrepid these days, and we're eager to seek out the new and cool wherever we can.
From its counterculture days to its present position on the cusp of Silicon Valley, San Francisco has nurtured a number of prestigious publications and the employees who make them run.


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Du declared ‘Brand of the Year’ 2013 by superbrands
Superbrands, the independent authority and arbiter of branding, announced that ‘du’ has won the coveted ‘Brand of the Year’ award at the 9th annual Superbrands tribute event, which was held at the Intercontinental, Dubai Festival City. 52 leading UAE brands were awarded the ‘Superbrands’ status at the gala event, which is also dubbed globally as the ‘Oscars of Branding’. The event was attended by the country’s most prominent senior business, marketing and branding executives and saw the unveiling of the 2013 Superbrands book featuring many of the brands voted as Superbrands.
Speaking at the tribute event, Mike English – Director, Superbrands Middle East said, “I am particularly delighted that du has won the ‘Brand of the year’ award for 2013. They have positioned their brand perfectly and have worked exceptionally hard to ensure that their consumers get the best possible service. du’s brand has won the trust of consumers and is well placed to become the number one in the market place.”
Since its inception in 2006, du has worked hard to enhance and expand its bouquet of propositions in an industry that is at the heart of economic and social transformation. Bringing people and businesses together is what the company does best, offering mobile and fixed telephony, broadband connectivity and IPTV services to people, homes and businesses all over the UAE.
In recent years du has become one of the UAE’s most prominent brands, winning many awards and honours. Just last year, du was granted the highly regarded and internationally accepted ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certification accredited as a sign of excellence in health, safety and environmentally friendly practices. This particular accreditation acknowledges the efforts du is making across all sectors of the business to be an example-setting leader in planet-friendly practices.
As a contributor to the wellbeing of the UAE, du has embarked on a number of social initiatives to promote a sense of community, to encourage personal growth through sport and create awareness for causes or events that affect the lives of UAE residents. The company continued the annual tradition of providing almost 163,000 Iftar meals during Ramadan, while the company’s yearly blood donation campaign (Drop of Life) saw hundreds of employees donating blood.
“Winning a Superbrands title provides a strong platform to be able to support the strength of the brand while addressing the entire range of the organizations’ interactions with employees, customers both existing and potential, investors, suppliers, media, etc. The tribute event is a celebration of these high profile brands and the people who contribute to their success.”
The Superbrands Council, which comprises of some of the leading names in UAE business circles, compile the shortlist which is then scored online by more than 2,500 marketing professional. The brands that scored more than 80% of the total possible marks were declared Superbrands by the Brand Council. The brands, which meet the stringent criteria set by the council are awarded with Superbrands status.
Most of the selected brands appear in the Superbrands UAE book, which traces the history and achievements of each of the brands. The 2013 Superbrands book is a coffee table book, which includes a two-page profile of each Superbrand tracing the foundation and development of the brand and a ‘Things You Didn’t Know section’ highlighting interesting facts about the brand and its unique achievements.
“It is heartening to see so many of the UAE’s home grown brands make it into the Superbrands UAE book alongside large corporate entities and world famous FMCG brands. We ensure that the participation in the book is by invitation only and is a recognition brand value and the enormous effort that makes them such successful brands.” Mr. English concluded.